The present invention relates to a camera with a flash unit capable of popping up from the camera body and in which the distribution angle of the flash is made to vary with the changeover between wide-angle photography and telephotography.
A wide-angle/telephotographic convertible camera including a flash unit is widely known in the art, in which the distribution angle of the flash is made to vary with the changeover between wide-angle photography and telephotography. For example, in the disclosure of Japanese Utility Model Appln. No. 52-155543, an electronic flash is fixed on the front face of a camera body and a light-diffusing plate is slidably disposed on the front face. During standard photography, the light-diffusing plate moves in front of the electronic flash thereby to make the distribution angle of the flash wide; whilst during telephotography, the flash is emitted without passing through the light-diffusing plate.
In flash photography, there arises a problem called the pink eye phenomenon, in which human eyes are photographed colored red, as those of a rabbit. In order to avoid the pink eye phenomenon, it is necessary to space the electronic flash from the taking lens by an amount corresponding to a distance depending on the guide number of the electronic flash. Since the flash is not diffused for telephotography, the guide number for telephotography is larger than that for standard photography. Therefore, if the electronic flash is fixed to the camera body, then in order to avoid the pink eye phenomenon which is likely to occur during telephotography, it is necessary to position the electronic flash sufficiently far from the taking lens. Because of this, in a wide-angle/telephotography changeover camera with a light diffusing plate slidably mounted thereon, there arises the problem that the camera body as a whole becomes quite large.
Furthermore, in the device of Japanese Patent Appln. Laid-open Publ. No. 55-129321, a light-diffusing plate is disposed in front of the electronic flash to pop up from the camera body. During standard flash photography, in which the angle of view is large, the electronic flash and the light-diffusing plate pop up from the camera body; but during flash telephotography, only the electronic flash pops up. The wide-angle/telephotography changeover camera with an electronic flash of this type has a movable electronic flash so that it is possible to avoid the above-mentioned pink eye phenomenon. However, since both the electronic flash and the light-diffusing plate pop up, the construction is complicated, which makes it hard to utilize it in a compact camera.